Scan barcode
margaretpinard's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
p9 stream of consciousness. p31 'my predecessor? i said. 'oh! my predecessor.' p65 collage of quotations, like stream of consciousness, great effect. p78 drunk scene and meltdown then two girls pulling at a dress--hilarity/sadness p86 "A lady--some words have a long, thin neck that you'd like to strangle" p91 the picture painting 'Loyal Heart' with 'it was the wall that mattered'...chills! p115 the 'start all over again' horror of the ending/ outlook
helenmcclory's review
5.0
dark, lyrical, skewed...lots of adjectives to describe this, but it's really the sense of place, of a mind subjected to pressures beyond endurance, that make this so memorable. And not that it's a 'prequel' to Jane Eyre.
sookieskipper's review
3.0
Jean Rhys takes a plunge into the life of the ignored woman from Jane Eyre - Bertha. Bertha, whose name is Antoinette, is slowly stripped of everything she holds dear including her own name. As a child she loses her father and the step father that takes her away from what little affection she had from her mother. From then on her life takes a route that she has very little control of.
Rhys prose is an amalgamation of elegant beauty and crude brutality. Her narration is provoking and the setting is often contrasting to the scene unfolding. The misery of Rochester fails to droop the brightness of his surroundings. Rhys celebrates contradictions; Antoinette is everything Jane isn't. The bleak cold England and its culture is foreign to Antoinette who is used to heat and bright colors around her. Rhys doesn't hold back in insinuating how Rochester is Antoinette undoing in the way he treats her, ignores her and locks her up. Its a bastardized reflection of colonial rule and absurd patriarchal values.
Its heartbreaking to see Antoinette watch Jane around the house and on grounds with Rochester and their blossoming romance in wet English weather. The flapping red scarf is the only sign of the heat, the beauty of the colony and of Antoinette. The inevitable tragedy occurs more quickly than one imagines and its every bit hurtful.
"Have all the beautiful things sad destinies?" She asks.
Maybe.
Rhys prose is an amalgamation of elegant beauty and crude brutality. Her narration is provoking and the setting is often contrasting to the scene unfolding. The misery of Rochester fails to droop the brightness of his surroundings. Rhys celebrates contradictions; Antoinette is everything Jane isn't. The bleak cold England and its culture is foreign to Antoinette who is used to heat and bright colors around her. Rhys doesn't hold back in insinuating how Rochester is Antoinette undoing in the way he treats her, ignores her and locks her up. Its a bastardized reflection of colonial rule and absurd patriarchal values.
Its heartbreaking to see Antoinette watch Jane around the house and on grounds with Rochester and their blossoming romance in wet English weather. The flapping red scarf is the only sign of the heat, the beauty of the colony and of Antoinette. The inevitable tragedy occurs more quickly than one imagines and its every bit hurtful.
"Have all the beautiful things sad destinies?" She asks.
Maybe.
More...